Tag: Gratitude

This week is all about being grateful for the town you live in. This one is easy for me as the town I currently live in, is the town I’ve lived in my whole life. Many people have heard of Bundaberg even if they have never lived in Australia purely because of the things we are famous for.

This one is an easy one. I’ve written about my hubby & my amazing kids. So for this week, I have picked another member of my family. My nan.

My nan is an absolute inspiration. She turned 90 last year, she still lives on her own, drives her car, and gardens. She cooks amazing things like Jam Roll-Poly’s (dessert), Syrup Dumplings, Lemon Sago, and a variety of Jam’s and Chutney’s.

She still takes an active role in my children’s lives and will often take one of them for a few hours or my daughter has a sleep over at her house.

Her garden is her pride and joy, even if it is starting to get a bit big for her. She grows pumpkins, watermelons, guava’s, oranges and has a beautiful array of flowers out the front.

I’m so glad that I have my nan, she’s always around if we need her and I make sure I show my appreciation as much as possible, whether it’s a trip to Bunnings, a Caramel Latte at the Coffee Club or just taking around something for her dinner or lunch.

Celebrating her 90th Birthday Surprise Party.

Nan is inspirational and if I’m half the woman she is when I’m her age, well,
I’ll be pretty damn lucky.

Christine xx

To see previous posts from the Gratitude Challenge, click the links below:

What can I say about my hubby? We got together when I was 20, started living in sin at 21 😉 married at 23 and this August we have been married for 10 years.

What first attracted me to my hubby in that bar all those years ago? His eyes, he has these amazing blue eyes that I get lost in. Every. Time. He wasn’t my “usual type” but that hadn’t worked in the past, so I thought, lets have some fun…. almost 13 years later, here we are.

In this time we have made our house a home, we’ve painted, renovated and boy have we had some fights and heartbreaks, but also some immense joy and of course – love! We have had so many new experiences together but also enjoyed time apart with our friends.

Why am I grateful for my husband?

We have bought 2 beautiful little humans into this world (Miss S & Mr L) and we certainly have our own carbon copies in these 2, with Miss S exactly like me and Mr L like hubby – and imagine my joy when he kept those beautiful blue eyes!!!

He’s my other half, he is the one that made me complete and I love him to pieces (even in those times he’s driven me CRAZY, and vice-versa).

He works hard and allows me the luxury of staying at home while the kids are still young, letting me be involved in the school,

He supports my hobbies/business ideas like sewing from home for the last 5+ years (and of course, his encouragement is one of the reasons I started blogging!)

He let’s me sleep in when he knows I need it, and has, on occasion even taken the kids out of the house when he knows it’s been a particularly rough week and I need that time. Just the fact he knows when I need it I appreciate so much.

He’s supported me through the ups and downs of IVF (even though both children were conceived naturally, but that’s a story for another time), and held me all those devastating times when we thought we weren’t going to have children.

He truly is my rock and I’m not sure I would have been able to mentally cope through all of the hard times throughout the years without him.

He’s a smart man who knows when to bring wine 😉

And of course, he married me!

I have so many reasons to be grateful for my husband. At the end of the day, I always appreciate that he is in my life, I couldn’t imagine sharing it with anyone else if I’m really honest.

Luckily, loving him is (mostly) easy

Christine xx

To see previous posts from the Gratitude Challenge, click the link below:

Week 1: Why Start this Challenge?

After seeing this Challenge on the lovely Hannah from Paint Me A Smile’s Blog, I decided that I loved the concept. I really wanted to partcipate and believe that being Grateful and showing Gratitude is one way I can live more intentionally.

From now on, Monday is my official “Gratitude Day”. Why Monday? Because so many people dislike Monday’s, so if I chose this day to be a happy day, then it rates higher on the list.

“The more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract things to be grateful for.” ~ Walt Disney

I’m looking forward to not only sharing a bit more about myself, but to opening up my heart and appreciating what’s right in front of me, and who knows, my gratitude posts could inspire you to start your own challenge.

Wow. I can’t believe I’m actually writing this post, but here it is! The lovely Hannah from Paint Me A Smile has nominated me for the Blogger Recognition Award. Thank you so much for the nomination, I’m truly honoured.

The Rules

Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.

Write a post to show your award.

Give a brief story of how your blog started.

Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.

Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.

Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them & provide the link to the post you created.

My Answers

How did my blog start?

I started this blog on the 3rd October 2016. I was almost at breaking point with all of the to-do’s in my life, but didn’t know it at the time, I was just trying to stay afloat and needed some help. I was inspired by A Slob Comes Clean and how she started hers as a “practice blog” to work out how to stay on top of the housework, then I found The Minimalists – and their advice gave me motivation to start my own Blog.

My blog is a creative outlet that really has helped me work out a lot of things, it has given me courage to decide what I really want in my life right now and what I’m working towards in the future. I believe that I would have hit a full breakdown late last year if it wasn’t for this venture.

I’m looking forward to 2017 and taking my blog to new heights. I’m hoping that I will gradually build my followers and continue to bring authentic, honest and mostly positive posts that people are able to relate to.

Two Pieces of Advice

I’m still only very new (in my mind) with this whole blogging thing, but I’ll give the best advice I can.

Get the fundamentals emails from WordPress. These have amazing hints and tricks in there, and even if you don’t have time right away (like I haven’t read through them all yet), you can still save these emails to refer to at a different point in time.

There’s lots of advice about Interacting, which I think is soooo important. But I think my second piece of advice would honestly be to keep a log of blog post ideas. Whether it be on your phone, in a diary/planner/bullet journal or in WordPress itself. I find that I get inspiration for posts while I’m away from my computer. Whether it be while I’m out for a walk through the gardens, watching the kids play, or baking/cleaning. Rarely do I sit at the computer and magically come up with an idea (it can happen, but rarely). If I’m stuck with how the post should go, I do a major brain dump draft, get everything out of my head and then go for a walk if I’m able to, if not, I leave the draft for a day or 2 (or sometimes a week) and come back to it. I currently have over 10 drafts saved ready for more information/inspiration/real life.

Again, I’m still navigating myself around blogs and finding ones who inspire my journey. These blogs have all caught my eye for different reasons, whether it’s the fantastic content, the interaction I get from their blogs (on both my page and theirs) or a combination of the 2. I’m looking forward to building new relationships in this “world” as we all build and grow together.

9 days into the New Year and I wanted to share my experience with a mini journal I purchased from Kikki K called A Sentence A Day.

What is it?

This book is a mini journal with a different question daily and over 3 years you answer the same question on the same day. Perfect to see what has (or hasn’t) changed in a single glance.

What I love about it?

I love that it makes me stop and consider a question, just one, every day. There’s a small space so you aren’t expected to write a novel every day and I’m generally done within a minute or 2.

Is there anything I don’t like?

Not really. I have big handwriting, so sometimes I go over my 3 lines, but it’s honestly the only negative I have, that isn’t actually a negative. And really, it’s just a personal thing, most people have smaller handwriting then I do and it would be perfectly fine for them. Most days my answers fit with room to spare, other days I write more then what was probably intended.

So what are some of the questions? (I’ve picked the start, middle and end of the year as well as some dates meaningful to me)

January 1: what is one of your New Years resolutions?

February 2: What’s the best advice you’ve been given in the last 12 months?

March 24: What artist are you loving right now?

July 1: What is the last thing you created?

August 18: What music genre best represents your mood today?

September 22: When was the last time you laughed so hard it hurt?

December 25: One of the best memories of this year.

December 31: How are you going to make this next year your best year yet?

Is it worth it?

Heck yes! I love that I feel like it’s a guided Gratitude Journal. It makes me stop, think and reflect but I’m not pressured to find 3 things every day I’m grateful for without repeating myself constantly.

While I do also have a gratitude journal that asks for 3 things every entry/page, I’m planning on using that more sporadically when I’ve had a day thats filled my heart or something memorable has happened.